Utility of Metabolomics toward Assessing the Metabolic Basis of Quality Traits in Apple Fruit with an Emphasis on Antioxidants

A gas chromatography-mass spectrometry approach was employed to evaluate the use of metabolite patterns to differentiate fruit from six commercially grown apple cultivars harvested in 2008. Principal component analysis (PCA) of apple fruit peel and flesh data indicated that individual cultivar replicates clustered together and were separated from all other cultivar samples. An independent metabolomics investigation with fruit harvested in 2003 confirmed the separate clustering of fruit from different cultivars. Further evidence for cultivar separation was obtained using a hierarchical clustering analysis. An evaluation of PCA component loadings revealed specific metabolite classes that contributed the most to each principal component, whereas a correlation analysis demonstrated that specific metabolites correlate directly with quality traits such as antioxidant activity, total phenolics, and total anthocyanins, which are important parameters in the selection of breeding germplasm. These data sets lay the foundation for elucidating the metabolic basis of commercially important fruit quality traits.     

East Pacific Rise Near 13{degrees}N: Geology of New Hydrothermal Fields

Abundant massive sulfide deposits are present at the crest of the East Pacific Rise near 13 degrees North, where the opening rate is about 12 centimeters per year. Large manganese and helium-3 anomalies in seawater samples, evidence of intense present-day activity of hydrothermal springs, indicate that sulfides are still being produced along this segment of the rise. Massive sulfides also occur on adjacent off-axis seamounts.     

Recognition dynamics up to microseconds revealed from an RDC-derived ubiquitin ensemble in solution

Protein dynamics are essential for protein function, and yet it has been challenging to access the underlying atomic motions in solution on nanosecond-to-microsecond time scales. We present a structural ensemble of ubiquitin, refined against residual dipolar couplings (RDCs), comprising solution dynamics up to microseconds. The ensemble covers the complete structural heterogeneity observed in 46 ubiquitin crystal structures, most of which are complexes with other proteins. Conformational selection, rather than induced-fit motion, thus suffices to explain the molecular recognition dynamics of ubiquitin. Marked correlations are seen between the flexibility of the ensemble and contacts formed in ubiquitin complexes. A large part of the solution dynamics is concentrated in one concerted mode, which accounts for most of ubiquitin's molecular recognition heterogeneity and ensures a low entropic complex formation cost.     

Mineral nutrition and water use patterns of a maize/cowpea intercrop on a highly acidic soil of the tropic semiarid

Due to global warming, water is expected to become scarce especially in semiarid regions. Therefore, there is a need to increase the efficiency in water use by crops under rainfed agriculture. The effect of nutrient availability on the growth, production, root development, water relations and water use efficiency (WUE) by the intercrop maize/cowpea was investigated in 2 contrasting years (dry and wet) in the semiarid region of Brazil. The crops were grown on a strongly acidic, sandy soil with three treatments: (i) application of NPK fertilizers plus lime (NPK + lime), (ii) application of NPK fertilizers (NPK) and (ii) control (Contr.) in low and high input regimes. The soil water balance was calculated with the crop model EPICSEAR. Application of fertilizers and lime increased biomass production and grain yield of the intercrop up to 400% and 550%, respectively, and maize suffered more from the effects of low nutrient availability and soil acidity than cowpea. The root development of both crops was strongly improved by the application of NPK and lime and cowpea developed a deeper root system which enabled this crop to keep a higher transpiration rate in the dry year. As a consequence of the shallow root system, maize was prone to water stresses caused by the dry spells and its harvest index was reduced when dry spells occurred during flowering and grain filling.     

益生素是否会对家禽生产性能产生有益的作用

益生素可能是减轻最近在饲料中禁止使用抗生长素生长促进剂(AGPs)所造成影响的解决方案之一。然而,益生素的作用方式仍完全不为人所知:鸡肠道中的微生物菌落是如何增殖和益生素能以何种方式对它产生影响、随后又会对饲料利用率产生怎样的影响?